Appreciating Harold Ramis

One of my most admired writers was the brilliant Harold Ramis. Comedy is so tricky to pull off well and he was such a master. I loved the way he told stories that made us laugh and yet had meaning. To me, when talent is used in service, its impact is strengthened many times over. Film can be a powerful “abundance trigger,” because positive stories can help us replace our negative ones.

“I feel a big obligation to the audience, almost in a moral sense, to say something useful,” said Ramis. “If I’m going to spend a year of my life on these things, I want something that I feel that strongly about.”

I loved his characters, and performances of the actors who played them, especially the Bill Murray ones. “Groundhog Day.” Wow, just wow. And how about that amazing line in “Meatballs,” “It just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter!” Take that, negative mind.

Ramis wrote strong comedic characters who modeled irreverence for meaningless mores and small thinking.

“My characters aren’t losers, ” he said. “They’re rebels. They win by their refusal to play by everyone else’s rules.”